Overall food safety​

On the other hand, the overall satisfactory rate for food safety remained high at 99.9%, the centre said in its food safety report​ published last month.

The results of about 15,100 food samples tested were satisfactory except for 17 samples.

Some of the unsatisfactory samples were detected with salmonella or excessive amount of B. cereus; or contained sulphur dioxide; or were contaminated with aflatoxins.

Some vegetable and fruit samples were also found to contain pesticide residues exceeding legal limits.

“Since the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap 132CM) came into effect on August 1, 2014, as of July 31 this year, the Centre for Food Safety has taken over 152,800 food samples at the import, wholesale and retail levels for testing for pesticide residues. The overall unsatisfactory rate is less than 0.2%,” ​the report concluded.